By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal filed by a retired Texas veterinarian who argued that a state law barring him from providing pet-care advice online and over the telephone violated his free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. Lower courts had ruled that Brownsville, Texas veterinarian Ron Hines, 72, broke a 2005 state law when he answered questions through an “Ask a Vet” link on his website. In 2013, the Texas Board of Veterinary Medicine, which regulates veterinary practices in the state, suspended his license for a year, finding he violated the law by providing “advice of a specific medical nature” without actually examining the animal. Attorney Matt Miller of the Austin office of the Institute for Justice, a public-interest legal group that represents Hines, said the high court’s refusal to hear the case has the potential to restrict the fast-growing practice of telemedicine, the use of the Internet by medical doctors to diagnose patients. Read the rest here: U.S. top court rejects Texas veterinarian’s pet-care advice case
